I have read some of the answers to this question, and the one that stunned me was the one that suggested peaceful secession and blockading as "solutions". First of all, one of the main reasons that caused the Civil War was preserving the Union. Peaceful secession? That would be doing the exact opposite of what the North wanted. Second, blockading is an act of war. This isn't "mommy's time-out" to a little child. These are two big military forces that can potentially cause the death of thousands. Starving the South wouldn't help at all, and in fact it would be the very start of the Civil War. The only way I can see the Civil War being avoided would to emancipate the slaves, and compensate owners with money so they could hire workers. This would preserve their way of life and dependent economy. It is what Britain and Russia did after all. Slave owners weren't owning slaves for the sake of owning slaves. They saw them as a way of helping their farm without any expense to them. If they were compensated with money, their way of life would be protected. This may also have helped seal the cracks that had divided the North and the South. IMO, No. You must remember that there were many underlying issues confronting America in the 1850s and into the 1860s. The north was industrializing itself. The south felt it could not compete against it's northern counterparts due to this. Then we have the whole slavery issue and states rights, against the background of westward expansion. Sometimes I believe people forget that the westward expansion led to southerners asking when new territories were to be admitted would they have the choice of free or slave states? The northern states were working on making new admissions only free states. This naturally worried the southern states as they could foresee a future where the federal gov't would have been dominated by free states, and as such the slave states would have virtually no voice in their own governance. This is the main driving force that led the southern states to secede. They felt that the north was deliberately trying to undermine them. These beliefs led to a constant escalation that eventually led to bloodshed and war. With these mitigating issues, it was inevitable that conflict was to follow. There were to many sides with opposite desires for the civil war to have been avoided. Of course! Several reasonable scenarios are:
1 - The seceding states could simply have been allowed to leave w/o violence, and recognized as an independent nation. This was what the original 7 seceding states said they wanted - to leave and be left alone.
2 - The seceding staes could be blockaded, nad interior trade cut off, sort of like economic sanctions, then enticed back. Sort of like, "Go to your room until you can act decently, then we;ll talk about this"
3 - In the early 50's, politicians who were visionary and able to put aside rhetoric could have proposed reasonable legislation to clarify the nature of states' rights versus the Federal government, sitmulate the South's economy with industry/commerce, and bring slavery to an eventual end. This would have defused many issues that led to the war. I must disagree, there were too many underlying squabbles for the South and North to remain at peace. The only thing that would have prevented the Civil War would be the election someone weaker then Lincoln, who would not have the resolve to not allow the SOuth to leave the Union. I agree that Civil War could not have been prevented. There had been tension since at least 1820 (Missouri Compromise). It was only a matter of time before compromises would no longer work.
As a response to an above entry. I don't believe your 2nd scenario of avoiding war. Is this not what the Union did in the war? The anaconda Plan? The blockade around the coast preventing trade? They would just have fought back. South Carolina had been looking for an excuse to secede for ages!
I am surprised no one mentioned the possibility of making a submission to the Supreme Court for a decision on secession. I am not saying it would have prevented the war but it would have given food for thought by both sides before starting one. My theory is that both sides were afraid to go that route because both were afraid they could loose. I am convinced that is the reason Davis was never tried for treason at the end of the war. The Union knew the question of secession would arise with the possibility of the Supreme Court being asked to make a decision.
The civil war could not have been avoided because of the high ternsions between the North and South. What happened has happened because of the way the U.S is. We have no choice on whether the confederate army was right in doing what they did, but then again we have no right what the army does now because of all the political bullcrap. We could have avoided it but the southern states thought that not paying for slavery could help them become richer and started a war because of it. War isnt something that people can vote on its something that people can participate in or have nothing to say about it its that simple. In my opinion i think it could have not been avoided. If you ask a lot of other people i believe they will say the opposite. But the truth is that no matter who says what we will always have had a war with the north because of slavery was abolished (Emancipation Proclamation).
The One True
No. There is no such thing as peaceful secession. The Union was to be preserved, whether they seceded or not. They would do it forcibly or diplomatically, but it is still not peaceful. Although it was thought to be only because of slavery, as is the main thought process by the average American, it was not. The states' rights were in a state of perish. The national government was becoming the aggressor. The South was going to secede no matter what, as Virginia, a leading state in the house of representatives, had seceded because of the onslaught of northern reps. Most other states seceded due to them. The Civil War could NOT have been avoided.
Of course the US Civil War could have been avoided. By looking back, and hindsight is 20-20 here are 3 of many reasons why.
1. The South could have agreed that slavery should be contained where it existed;
2. James Buchanan could have run for re-election; and
3. The founding fathers could have set a schedule for ending slavery.
The Vietnam War might have been avoided, if communism had not been involved.
Yes, but we wouldnt have had the allies that we did.
The Irish Civil War could potentially have been avoided through more effective diplomacy and compromise between the pro-Treaty and anti-Treaty factions following the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. Greater efforts to address the concerns of those opposed to the Treaty, particularly regarding the partition of Ireland and the status of Northern Ireland, might have mitigated tensions. Additionally, a more inclusive political approach that sought to unify various nationalist sentiments could have fostered a more cohesive response to the post-independence challenges. Ultimately, a combination of political miscalculations and deep-seated divisions made conflict likely.
Realistically, probably not. It is possible that WW2 could have been, though, had the terms of the Treaty of Versailles been somewhat more reasonable. The insistence on extremely punitive terms for Germany more or less ensured that there would be a second war.
Many historians believe that the US Civil War could have been avoided. Certainly if the politicians that brought on the war knew that over 600,000 men would be killed, things would have turned out quite differently. It's clear that the South acted to rashly to separate themselves from the Union. More compromise and diplomacy was needed, but there was a rush to judgement. One clear cut way the War could have been avoided was if the Democrat Party was not splintered in the 1860 Presidential Election. One of the reasons Lincoln won was due to this split. I say this because the Republican Party was heavily outspoken about ending slavery than were the Democrats. Nevertheless Lincoln did win and if the South had delayed military action and realized that a war would devastate the South, better communications between the two sides might have avoided the war. Slavery had been outlawed by the major European powers without a conflict. More time & patience could have avoided this war and slavery could have been ended as well. The slave system was not a healthy one and better foresight by the South should have recognized this.
The Civil War could have been avoided in various ways. There had to be an agreement on how the government would be run that would have eliminated slavery, yet preserved prospects for occasional minority rule by bigots of all stripes, the utterly stupid and the irredeemably inhumane....
The Vietnam War might have been avoided, if communism had not been involved.
The Boston Police Strike couldve been avoided if Chuck Norris was there
ANY WAR can be avoided; but man likes war.
No
yes
I dont know
yes
The Reign of Terror have been avoinded if france didn't have a dictartorship for their country.
That couldn't have been avoided, it was in the nature of an island empire, inhabited by a homogeneous people.
The war could have been avoided if California had been divided into two states - North California and South California - along the parallel of the Missouri Compromise. North California could have been free soil, and South California could have been a slave-state.
If California could have been admited to the Union as two states - North California and South California, divided along the line of the Missouri Compromise, which had managed to keep the peace since 1820.